quote · Legacy record
Ah, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice: To be imprison’d in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendant world; or to be worse than worst Of those, that lawless and uncertain thoughts Imagine howling! ’tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, imprisonment, Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death.
Ah, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice: To be imprison’d in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendant world; or to be worse than worst Of those, that lawless and uncertain thoughts Imagine howling! ’tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, imprisonment, Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death.
In print by 1888 AD · industrial
Recorded in a printed collection by this date; the original date of these words is still unknown.
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Shakspere (identity unresolved)
Attribution: unknown - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- In print by 1888 AD · industrial
In print by 1888: recorded in A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888). Collection publication is an upper bound for this wording, not its earliest origin, composition date or the author's lifetime.
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 167 · printed citation: Shakspere · subject: DEATH
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.